‘Dad, you only care about yourself. That’s why mommy left...’
The great thing about zombie movies is that you think the subgenre has died off but it always comes shuffling back into life somehow. The basic premise of Train to Busan is ‘What if zombies but on a train?’. Now, that’s enough to hook me by itself but luckily there is much more at play here…
The plot is all there in the poster and the title. Following a zombie outbreak in South Korea, we follow a group of survivors on a fast-moving train attempting to reach Busan and safety. That’s all you need to know.
Train to Busan doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it leans into all the things that made zombie movies so effective in the first place. Writer-director Sang-ho Yeon continuously poses the question of how family and relationships can mean anything in the shape of great tragedy. The result is a film that mixes fast-paced zombie fun time with real moments of emotional heft. It’s a delicate balancing act that could so easily have fallen apart but in the end, Train to Busan provides a much-needed shot in the arm for a genre that has felt moribund since the oversaturation of zombie movies following the huge success of The Walking Dead.
I know that many people have washed their hands of zombie movies but trust me when I say, if you are looking for a way back into the genre, buy a ticket to the Train to Busan. All aboard!